Motherhood's Calling
by InconceivableRapier
Summary: Lilly Chevalier, more commonly known as the Terror of New York, was not what you would call the motherly-type at first glance. But when she finds a baby turtle lost in the sewer, she realizes just how willing she is to give it a shot. Part 1 of the Evergreen Series. Rated for minor language and some violence.


_Hello, everyone, I posted this story a little while ago, and I've come back to it. But this time is going to be a bit different, but I'll be posting a full explanation of this series new universe on my profile page very soon. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed writing it!_

 **Chapter 1**

New York City was in utter chaos that night. Not its usual hustle and bustle of its nightlife that had earned it the name the city that never sleeps. Tonight they had much bigger problems to deal with than some road rage. The cityscape was alit with the bright red and blue flashes of what must have been every police car in the city, coloring the town in the vibrant colors. It was better off than it had been an hour ago when the explosions had been going off. That was where the chaos had come in. And it was all Lilly Chevalier's fault. Sort of. She wasn't exactly willing to claim sole responsibility for everything that had happened. But she was willing to bet that if asked, she would be the only one willing to admit to the part that she played. Unlike that goody-two-shoes hero that everyone adored, no one in their right mind would ever _dream_ about the possibility of her causing trouble. Nor would she ever admit it.

It wasn't as if Lilly could make a public appearance to set the record straight, to tell the city her side of the story. Though she could the idea amusing, pausing to think of how unbelievably ridiculous it would be. It was hard to imagine it. Her, standing in front of a swarm of news reporters, flashing cameras at every angle and microphones being shoved in her direction so that every news station in the state could have every vowel recorded. All of them anxious to hear the tale from the perspective of the 'villain.' And she wondered how many of them might actually listen.

The whole event had last almost four hours, so there was bound to be some half-decent video of it flying around somewhere. It was practically guaranteed that the news tomorrow would be boasting the epic tale of what was sure to be called the 'Battle of the Century.' The battle to end all battles, between the great hero of New York and it's the greatest villain. The latter of which being none other than Lilly, the unsuspecting looking woman currently stumbling down a deserted street looking worse for wears. She couldn't help that though, being thrown through a building wasn't exactly a spa treatment. And it wasn't as if she was actually going to be going out in front of any cameras anytime soon. She had gone to all the trouble of faking her death for a good reason after all. Although, it hadn't actually been planned, more of a spur of the moment time of thing.

" _Ding dong, the witch is dead_ …" Lilly sang quietly to herself with a wicked grin as she thought back on the shock she'd seen in the eyes of those around when she'd removed her ring from her finger and let her magic free. The way they cheered afterward when they thought the fight was over. Momentarily, Lilly was relieved that despite all her aches, her sense of humor was still intact. She trailed off into a string of giggles as she stumbled down a dark alley off of Broadway, voice high and mildly hysterical until she leaned against a wall. A fact which she blamed on blood loss rather than nerves, considering the gash which continued to ooze blood from her abdomen where the hero had delivered the 'finishing' blow. Tomorrow, the city would breathe a collective sigh of relief. Thinking that all their troubles were over now that Lilly was gone.

They didn't call her by her first name though. Instead, the papers came up with plenty of other names to call her by, Nightwatcher, Nightwalker, The Queen of the Night, Blackheart, The Shadow of New York, just to name a few off the top of her head. She wasn't overly fond of any of them, but she still earned them. She'd spent most of her nights terrorizing the people of New York, both innocent citizens and the random gang members that roamed the streets, for her own amusement. Generally, when you go around causing trouble for others the way she did, you don't exactly make a good first impression.

Lilly was bitter, she understood that now, about a lot of things. Everything, really. It was harder for her to name things she wasn't bitter about than the other way around. She'd been holding onto that bitterness for years. It had fueled her and her escapades for many years now, but she needed a break. That was why she'd done this, faked her death, that is. A vacation would do her some good, she'd never had one before after all. At least, until the hole in her chest was closed up. Though that wouldn't take long, it'd be healed entirely in a day or two at most. She was a fast healer. But it wasn't just her injuries that made her hesitate; all that bitterness, the driving force behind everything that she'd done, was starting to fade. Leaving an empty feeling in her chest where it used to be, creating a longing that she refused to acknowledge or think of.

Taking a deep breath in, Lilly held it as she tested her strength. Gingerly pushing away from the support as her eyes traveled down towards the manhole cover not far from where she stood. Usually, the sewer would not have been her first choice to rest, but Lilly was not strong enough to make it back to her bed, nor was she wasn't willing to wait out here in the open. Confident in her legs, she made her way towards the entrance to the sewer, noticing for the first time that it was slightly askew. And without thinking much about it, she kicked it out of her way with more strength than was necessary which caused it to fly off. Ricocheting off the brick wall and clattering to the ground.

Too tired and drained to bother with attempting to climb down a ladder, Lilly allowed herself to drop down into the sewer. Wincing slightly when the fall jostled her wound, but wincing even more when the bottom half of her jeans were soaked by the puddle she'd landed in. One that she could only hope was just made up of water and not something more unappealing.

There was not much else for Lilly to do, and her sudden exhaustion caused her to stumble once again. Falling back into the wall of the sewer, slowly easing her way down until she rested on the ground. She carefully adjusted herself so that she was comfortable, wrapped one arm around her waist to hold the wound. Tempted to go to sleep without checking it first. Her self-preservation won out before she allowed her eyes to close, and she looked down at the injury as she began to ponder her life. Trying to think back on how it had all come to this. Laying in a sewer with a hole in her chest. Because even Lilly had to admit that the violence of this evening was more than what she typically went for. Visibly wincing when she remembered the two buildings that had collapsed.

She wasn't proud of anything she'd done tonight. And she definitely wasn't pleased about having shown off her supernatural-skills, since doing so guaranteed that every monster hunter in the country would be on her heels in a matter of hours… if she hadn't been dead. Speaking of, Lilly carefully reached into her pocket. Pulling out the little ring that her grandmother had given to her, it was silver with a single tiny gem. But it held more power than most would imagine, and Lilly slid it onto her finger easily. Tonight she was safe… for now. So the young woman rested her head against her own shoulder and finally allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

 _~Break~_

The moonlight was shining through the open manhole cover, that was what Lilly noticed first when she woke up. At first, it was hard for her to say what had woken her up. The only clue she had was an agitating tickle on the back of her neck, the physical manifestation of an instinctive alarm bell that told her that something was wrong. The next thing she noticed was the pain in her neck, stiff from the position she'd taken when she'd fallen asleep. In a desperate attempt to relieve the pain she twisted her head, reaching hand with one hand to try to work out whatever knot was there. Lilly groaned again, glancing down to check her stomach only to smile when she found the wound fully healed. Seeing nothing but a thin white line across her chest.

Blinking owlishly around the tunnel, finding nothing of note at first that could have caused her to wake up. And then she heard a little noise. At first, she was sure that she had just imagined the sound, blaming it on the blood loss. Convinced that she was merely confused and disoriented from the fight. Still, she sat there, holding her breath as she listened intently for the noise again. When she heard it once more, she recognized it immediately; it was sharp and small, echoing through the sewer tunnel. The sound of a child crying out. Now she knew the blood loss was to blame for making her heart start to race in panic, or perhaps she wasn't as heartless as she made herself out to be. The longer she sat there, staring at the wall listening to the cries of the little one too small to help themselves. They sounded close, the might have even been just around the corner.

His distance from the entrance left a foul taste in her mouth when she began to think of the horrid possibilities, of how easy it would be to climb down here and abandon a baby down here. Wincing slightly, Lilly forced herself up onto her feet. Looking up and down the tunnel as she tried to pinpoint where the noise was coming from. The crying grew more intense, and she was forced to pick a direction and start running. Not having any idea what she would or could do once she found the infant… but at the same time, no amount of bitterness in the world could allow her to leave the baby down here to die.

It didn't take long for her to find the baby down here, the crying seemed to be getting louder with every passing minute. But she had no way of knowing if that was because she was getting closer or because the baby was becoming more upset. But the moment she did find him, she had a hard time reacting because the baby was nothing like what she had been expecting.

He was such a little thing, that was what Lilly noticed about him first when she turned the corner and found him. Slowly, she began walking towards him worried that if she moved too quickly, he would become more upset. He was sitting up, at least Lilly assumed it was he, slightly slouched over so that he could lean on his hands as he sobbed. One hand coming up to rub at his eyes. The next thing she noticed was how filthy he was, covered in head to toe in grime and dirt which he must have picked up from the sewer floor in the time he'd been down here. But even with that layer of filth, Lilly could clearly see that his skin was a strange shade of green. At least, strange for a human baby. He had no hair, nor did he have a nose or ears, which painted an unambiguous picture for the young woman.

Sitting before the Terror of the Night, on the floor of the sewer abandoned and alone was a turtle. Roughly the size of a human newborn, sobbing its little heart out in a way that Lilly never thought a turtle was capable of. Distracted by what she saw before her, she didn't think to watch her step until her foot hit a rock and suddenly he looked up at her. Lilly found herself staring down into neon green eyes, immediately stunned with how familiar they were, practically glowing in the dark of the sewer as he began to cry once again.

Only this time, he began reaching for her. And the moment he did, the sight of the little thing staring at her with _those eyes_ and his hand held out towards her made her heart rate jump. Her breathing catching in her throat as she stumbled back in shock, not fear as if she had been struck. Seeing her move away made the baby more upset, and his cries intensified. Growing more desperate as he reached for her, this time leaned forward until he fell onto his face, snapping Lilly back into action.

"Hey… hey, it's okay. It's okay," Lilly hushed the baby, voice too shaky to be comforting as she forced herself to calm down. Not sure what had set off such a reaction in her, Lilly moved slowly forward. Hesitating every step forward, one hand held out towards him, even as he began to reach for her again, this time having no choice but to lie on his stomach. She didn't know what to do, or what she was supposed to do. Maybe she should have run. Any other sane person probably would have called the police, but all Lilly could think of was whether or not it was alright to pick him up. The young woman couldn't just leave him there, not like those who left him before. If there was such a person, she couldn't think of any other way he could have ended up here.

Lilly kneeled down before him, and with more care than any of the civilians from the surface thought she was capable of she picked him up from the ground. Not wasting a second thought on the filth the covered him as she held him close to her chest. Lilly felt herself begin to panic as she tried again to hush him, "You're okay. I-I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving, I promise. I'm here."

Her shirt was already ruined from the blood earlier, so the grime from the baby didn't matter to her. Though she did worry about getting her blood onto him, and she cursed the lack of light that made it so that she couldn't see it well enough to tell what was dirt and what was blood. The two of them were still shaken, and Lilly's hushing did nothing to stop his crying. Though it could also have been from the cold, Lilly realized when she brushed her fingertips across his forehead and found him chilled. She tried to hold him tighter, doing her best to bounce him soothingly. But nothing seemed to work. The baby continued to cry and whine desperately, causing the woman holding him to be filled with doubt for a moment. Questioning herself, knowing that she'd have to settle him down sooner rather than later. If he kept going on like he was now, he was bound to attract someone else's attention. And if anyone found him, or Lilly for that matter, then they'd both be doomed.

Well… in a manner of speaking, since Lilly doubted that any regular citizen would actually be able to do much against her. Even when she was holding a baby in her arms. So in desperation, she began digging through her own memory. Thinking back as she searched for anything that might be able to help her, truthfully she felt a little foolish when she realized that she knew a way to calm down a baby. She settled herself down and began to hum. It was an old tune, a lullaby that played in an old movie that she loved as a child. One that she could never entirely forget just because of the number of times she watched the movie. For now, she didn't quite have it in her to sing out loud, but she hummed the tune.

The baby in her arms instantly quieted, looking up at her with eyes of wonder, settling down against her. Seeing him so enthralled with the song gave her the confidence to begin to sing the song wordlessly. And the hand that less than 24 hours had laid waste to New York City, now rested gently against the side of the fragile little turtle's head. Gently wiping away the last of the tears from his face. And then she stood and began making her way out of the sewer.


End file.
